Saturday, September 24, 2011

From ‘Guru Ramana. Memories and Notes’ by S. S. Cohen

…….. my eyes fell on a pleasant-looking middle-aged man inside the room, wearing nothing but a kaupin, with eyes as cool as moonbeams, sitting on the floor before a leaf-plate nearly emptied, and beckoning me with the gentlest of nods and the sweetest smile imaginable.

Life is miserable because it consists of nothing but thoughts

Bh. Killing the innocent body is certainly wrong. Suicide must be committed on the mind, where the suffering is deposited, and not on the body, which is insentient and feels nothing. The mind is the real culprit, being the creator of the anguish which tempts to suicide, but by an error of judgement, the innocent, insentient body is punished for it.

….. “Be still and know that I am God.” What does that stillness mean? Cessation of thinking, which is the universe of forms, colours, qualities, time, space, all concepts and precepts whatever.

…. Preoccupying the mind with a single theme to the exclusion of others, if doggedly practiced, will not fail to produce beneficial results. It will tend to reduce the oscillations of the thinking process, and thus render the mind amenable to concentration on the supremely important work which is to follow …… Stability and fixity of the restless, mercurial mind is the first aim, and this can be achieved by constant practice and by frequently pulling oneself back to the subject of the meditation whenever the mind strays …..

When the mind has attained an appreciable degree of concentration, which means of depth, it will be time to think of the answer. Some sadhakas are fortunate enough to begin with a mind already accustomed to concentration, either “naturally”, or by training, or through intense fervor, so that they are able to go straight to the application of the vichara, and thus make a more or less rapid progress, ……. The Master tells us that mental calmness, that is, controlled mind, is essential for a successful meditation

Bh. Nirvana is that state wherein the sense of separateness does not exist and where the ego has sunk in it's source, the Heart.

The consciousness which fills the body as life, being pure existence (sat) by nature, instinctively knows itself as ‘I’, but seeing nothing with the senses (through which it is accustomed to know the world) on which it can confer the title of ‘I’ but the body, it fails to apprehend itself as the unperceivable consciousness and falls victim to the primal illusion that the body is itself. Having thus lost sight of it's true nature by false identification, it gets entangled deeper and deeper in the tamasic and rajasic needs and craving of the material body and thus sets turning for itself the grinding wheel of life and death, birth and rebirth, pleasure and pain, knowledge and ignorance, etc., till the bitter end, when the longing for home and rest stirs it to carry out a search for them through tapas and sadhana and the guiding grace of the Divine Master.

Sri Bhagavan shows the way Home in the simplest words: “Enquire into the nature of that consciousness which knows itself as ‘I’ and it will inevitably lead you to it's source …… ”

Bh. All pains, even physical, are in the mind. Everybody feels the pain of a cut or a sting, but the Jnani, whose mind is sunk in bliss, feels it as in a dream.

Bh. Yes, siddhis are acquired by prarabdha karma and are not a hindrance in Mukti. They are a hindrance on the way to Mukti.

Mr. C. asks if the Jnani dreams.

Bh. Yes, he does dream, but he knows it to be a dream, in the same way as he knows the waking state to be a dream.

V. The Puranas say that Jnanis warred against Jnanis. How is that?

Bh. Yes, Sri Krishna fought against Bhishma. The Jnanis view all as Brahman, yet they fight.

The tumour has rapidly increased in size and the pain in severity …… But with all this Sri Bhagavan’s face remains bright, calm and serene. Not a sigh, not a grimace of suffering not a shadow of fear or restlessness mars the repose of his countenance or the luster of his eyes. He remains in his usual splendor, poise and grace. Even the peace which has all along radiated from him, continues to be powerfully felt.